The ‘dad bod’ has become the hottest commodity in Mandom, shot to peak physical attractiveness by the likes of Leo DiCaprio and Vince Vaughn.
In case you missed it, the dad bod is an all-encompassing, all-loving umbrella term for those guys who are packing a bit of extra weight around the middle regions.
All of a sudden, chunky is sexy, which is great news for guys who love pizza and beer and have better things to do than pump iron all day erryday.
According to Richard Bribiescas, Professor of Anthropology and Deputy Provost at Yale University, older men with children and a little extra weight are most attractive to women.
Their children suggest increased virility, which throughout human history has been a vital biological trait in in male partners… You know, to continue the human race with their strong-swimming sperm, like 73-year-old dad and legend, Robert De Niro.
In Bribiescas’ new book How Men Age: What Evolution Reveals About Male Health and Mortality, he states that becoming fatter after fatherhood due to decreasing testosterone levels actually prolongs lives and strengthens immune systems.
According to the Telegraph, there is evidence that chubby dads are less likely to suffer from heart attacks and prostate cancer too.
He writes:
[One] effect of lower testosterone levels is loss of muscle mass and increases in fat mass.
This change in body composition not only causes men to shop for more comfortable trousers but also facilitates increased survivorship and, hypothetically, a hormonal milieu that would more effectively promote and support paternal investment.
This all makes older dads a more attractive prospect to women on the lookout for a potential longterm partner, apparently.
While the idea that we’re all biologically programmed to fall for our mates is a little soul-destroying, the positive perception of the ‘dad bod’ is welcome – despite there being a rather glaring double standard between men and women who are expected to bound back to a post-baby bod straight after giving birth.
Perhaps the dad bod is a reaction to the floods of #FitFam posts on Instagram, or unnecessary and unrealistic washboards abs all over the mass media. Regardless, all hail the dad bods. More to love, if you ask me.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.